Game sites

There are a lot and lots of sites which provide free educational games. This page does not consider them as they are easily found. Here, the focus is on sites which allow for game creation. Each site in the pearltree has been reviewed.

PurposegamesThousands of games to explore all neatly categorised. They are mostly image/map click on the right location or multiple choice. The game creation requires account creation but its free and private/public option. Good navigation and usability.Here is a Purposegames example - Countries of Africa

Jeopardylabs is based on format of the US quiz show jeopardy. It can be used in class activities with teams of students competing to answer first. No account creation necessary and its very easy to do. There are some on the site already created which you can use (e.g. Harry Potter: http://jeopardylabs.com/play/harry-potter283)

What2learn would be our favourite game creation site because of its good usability. However, you can only create hangman games for free and there is limited access to their bank of game. We mention it here because it offers administrative and tracking functions if you do pay.

Sharendipity and Classtools promise much but their usability is too poor for practical use. We spend a long time trying to work with clastools. Creating a game is quite easy but ths logistics fo getting it to work in a class situation were too complex. Maybe you will have more luck.

Proprofs is easy to use and requires no account creation. It's simple but limited.

Sploder allows you to create 4 prominent types of computer games - platform creator, physics puzzle maker, the algorithm crew and classic shooter . The learning here is about simply how to create a computer game. This might well be attractive to your students, however you would need to think carefully about the educational value of this. it's also pretty complex.